Even the most ignorant peasant knows that drow worship a spider-goddess and love the company of spiders. A smaller
number know they use giant lizards as war mounts and bats as familiars. Few know of their other pets, guard animals, and strange
companions, and get only a brief glimpse of them before being killed or captured by the dark elves. Learn more about the common
creatures of the dark elf cities.
Bat: Drow enjoy the company of bats of all kinds, whether carnivorous or herbivorous. In drow society they are used
as pets, messengers (in the manner of carrier pigeons used by some surface cultures), fighting animals, or as spies. Some
kinds of bats have adapted to eating Underdark fungi instead of fruit, while others cannot survive without fruits imported
from the surface and thus are limited to the most affluent and well-connected drow. The carnivorous bats eat insects and small
strange flying creatures, but those that eat spiders are exterminated in areas controlled by followers of Lolth. Because of
their ability to navigate with sound, bats function extremely well underground, although most owners use their faerie fire
ability to call the trained bats back home. The smallest varieties of bats are often kept in cages by small drow children,
and the larger ones are kept in small rooms in drow mansions. (Slaves frequently clean these rooms to prevent odors.) Drow
pet bats are often killed by relatives or rivals, either for needless cruelty or to teach the child a lesson -- typically
"sentimental attachments to other creatures are a foolish weakness."
Cavvekan: Also known as bat-faced dogs, these Underdark natives superficially resemble the dogs of the surface world,
except instead of fur they have black, velvet-smooth skin. Their ears are upright and pointed and their noses have leaflike
projections similar to those of certain surface bats. They have sensitive whiskers, small eyes, and a slender build. Cavvekans
are nearsighted and can see in the dark or light only to a range of 10 feet. Like drow, they are temporarily blinded by bright
light. Their extremely sensitive hearing makes up for their poor eyesight, and they can detect creatures within 120 feet of
themselves. Because their senses are superior even to the dark elves, drow use cavvekans as guard and hunting animals, for
the creatures can track by scent almost as well as a bloodhound. Because of their rarity near dangerous drow cities, cavvekans
are rarely taken as pets and are used mainly as work animals. In the wild they are cautious scavengers, but they fight as
a pack to bring down larger weakened creatures, including humanoids.
Dire Bat: These large fliers are sometimes bred to fight each other, either in the air or crippled and forced to walk
in a crude arena. These ghoulish fights are the source of many wagers. A few drow communities utilize trained dire bats as
flying steeds, although such flights are dangerous and it's usually commoners or even drow children (always commoners) forced
to ride the bats; that way, if the bats and riders are slain, it is no great loss to the community. These flying pairs are
used only for scouting or to annoy enemies with poisoned crossbow bolts. Training for the bats consists of learning how to
be steered with a bit and bridle, and training for the rider is a matter of learning how to hold onto the bat's harness to
prevent falls.
Flying Spider: This mutant creature was first discovered in Undermountain but has spread to other areas under the
care of the dark elves. It looks like a normal spider with a body about the size of a human hand, except it has a pair of
translucent gossamer wings that allow it to fly clumsily at about the speed of a dwarf's walk. These flying spiders are as
poisonous as their landbound cousins and appear to be originally of hunting spider stock, for they are adept at jumping into
the air to catch prey and use webs only to secure captured food in their lairs. The existence of these creatures has started
rumors about a degenerate crossbreed between avariel (the rare winged surface elves) and the drow. These auvathyrri (as self-proclaimed
scholars have named them) are reputed to have scraggly birdlike wings or black insect wings and keep flying spiders in preference
to all other pets. That nobody has ever seen such an elf only lends power to the rumor that they exist and that they slay
any who encounter them.
Night Hunter: The evil batlike creatures called night hunters have 7-foot wingspans and sharp triangular tails.
They can see in the dark at a greater distance even than drow, and instead of using sound to navigate in the dark, their eerie
screams are used to strike fear into prey. They are sometimes domesticated and make aggressive pets, and both surface dwellers
and drow have taken them as familiars. They are sometimes called dragazars in honor of Dragazar, the first adventurer who
was known to have tamed one. They fight with a bite and follow up with slashes with the tail.
Riding Lizard: These horse-sized lizards are built low to the ground with legs splayed wide. Their steady gait,
sense of balance, and ability to walk on walls and ceilings make them ideal mounts for patrolling dark elves. Most noble houses
have at least a handful of the valuable lizards, and the larger houses have entire squadrons of lizard cavalry. Rather than
charging into battle like human knights, drow cavalry stealthily creeps unnoticed across the ceiling to pepper enemies with
poisoned crossbow bolts; by the time the targets realize the attack isn't coming from the ground, most of them are asleep
and are easy prey for support troops. Although they cannot see in the dark, riding lizards have a keen sense of smell and
are trained to follow the silent directions of their rider, allowing them to navigate the blackest tunnels with only a slight
decrease in speed. Larger, slower breeds of lizards are used by the drow as pack animals.
Shrieker: Some especially warped drow societies worship strange gods or demons, and some of them favor particularly
bizarre creatures as pets. Among these unusual pets are the shriekers, which are noisy fungi that grow in dungeons and in
many parts of the Underdark. While adult shriekers are as big as a human man, young ones range from the size of a thumb to
that of a rabbit. Easy to care for, they can be trained even to recognize certain creatures, making them good alarms for drow
families wanting to avoid intruders in certain parts of the house. Different varieties of shriekers have different calls (resembling
different Underdark animals or humanoids), allowing the drow to choose one of a particular tone. Since they are edible, if
they grow too large, noisy, or unruly, they can be eaten by their host family. Some make a sport of raising shriekers and
eating them live, savoring the screams as if they were those of a tortured surface elf.
Sinister: The weird mantalike levitating creatures called sinisters have a 9-foot wingspan. Although they are not
evil, sinisters are sometimes captured and enslaved with magic and forced to serve the dark elves. Drow wizards have devised
a spell that can tune in to the sinister's natural telepathy and use them as an early warning system in their towers. They
have a strong bite, possess the ability to freeze enemies in place with hold monster, and are protected by a natural
force field that deflects ranged attacks, making them greatly desired as bodyguards by particularly cowardly drow spellcasters.
Slave: Drow live in a slaving society, and it is not unusual for younger members of a house to adopt a slave as
a "pet," particularly if that slave is a small creature (such as a kobold) or not particularly intelligent (such as a goblin).
Compared to other slaves, these pets live a pampered life but are still treated as little more than animals and are often
kept chained up in a small room when the children don't want to play. Like all slaves, their lives are forfeit at any time,
and many slave pets have been tortured to death when its child owner tires of it. Others die of neglect, such as by being
banished to a high tower for an infraction and then forgotten for weeks. In the eyes of the drow, such pets are easily replaceable.
Snake: Just as some clerics of Lolth carry snake-headed whips, living snakes are common companions of the dark elves.
Although they cannot see in the dark, snakes have a keen sense of smell and can locate enemies and recognize familiar creatures
even when their eyes are useless. Drow raise both constrictors and venomous snakes, and drow torturers like to extract poison
from their pets in order to increase the agony of their victims. Young drow -- especially priestesses-in-training -- may have
small constrictor snake pets and often "train" them by feeding them flesh carved from live slaves. The dark elves like keeping
spitting snakes in cages on high shelves so they can spit their venom into the eyes of drow-sized invaders. Snakes are favored
by Lolth-worshipers because they are venomous creatures, just like the sacred spider, although clearly secondary to arachnids.
Favored snakes slain protecting the Spider Queen's temple or priestesses are often made into the dreaded snake-headed whips.
Spider: Unsurprisingly, spiders are a common pet of the dark elves. Whether tiny ones small enough to crawl through
a buttonhole and kept in elaborate lairs of metal and glass by drow children, hand-size creatures able to kill mice and are
the favorite of drow wizards, or the horse-sized monstrosities used as steeds by some cities, spiders have a special place
in dark elf society -- at least that large part that pays homage to Lolth. Dog-size spiders are also used as guards in Lolth's
temples, and arachnids of all sizes are allowed to run free in her cities -- in Lolthian society, killing a spider is punishable
by torture and death. Sometimes a venerable temple spider is revitalized by binding the spirit of a spider-demon into its
body, giving it increased vigor and a foul disposition.
Spitting Crawler: The Underdark lizards called spitting crawlers grow to 2 feet long including tail. Slim, with
froglike toes and a gray-green complexion, they resemble skinks. They can easily climb walls and ceilings and tend to freeze
in place for extended periods if they have been spotted. They attack prey and repel predators by spitting acid, which they
can do three times per day. This potent acid attacks flesh and metal, and it has been known to destroy an entire metal shield.
Their flexible bodies allow them to leap more than 10 feet and survive 30-foot falls unharmed. Because of their abilities,
they are a favorite pet or familiar of male drow forced to live in a matriarchal spider-worshiping society. Because their
acid is dangerous and extremely irritating even on a slight exposure, they are unsuitable pets for children or the very vain.